The investigated president Pedro Castillo answered on Friday the 17th a list of more than one hundred questions before the National Prosecutor, Pablo Sánchez, and his deputy Samuel Rojas for the case provided, in which he is accused of being the leader of a criminal organization within the Executive to defraud the State in works such as the Tarata III Bridge, in Saint Martin.
Castillo spent around three hours answering questions at the main headquarters of the Public ministry, where, according to his lawyer Benji Espinoza, The president’s version was recorded “in a 32-page statement of inquiry.”
Since there is a request in the Judiciary to annul the investigation opened at the end of May against the president, Espinoza evaluated the possible scenarios of this result.
YOU CAN SEE: Pedro Castillo: We will answer the questions that you think are appropriate
“If our request is denied, we have three days to go to a second instance and go to the Special Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court. We trust that they will agree with us (…). After ordinary criminal justice, the path to constitutional justice is opened through a claim for amparo that we could present and reach the Constitutional Court itself. so that this entity reaffirms what is said in the Constitution, as its supreme interpreter.”
“Only in case the local justice did not offer a remedy for the violation of the rights of the president peter castle, We can just knock on the door of the Inter-American Human Rights System,” the lawyer told La República.
The legal strategy of the president appeals to articles 117 and 99 of the Magna Carta of Peru, where it is established that a president can only be prosecuted in office for treason against the country, for dissolving the Congress, for impeding elections or the operation of the electoral system.
YOU CAN SEE: Benji Espinoza: who is President Pedro Castillo’s lawyer?
Since May 27, the prosecutor Paul Sanchez had a different interpretation, since it initiated proceedings against Castillo, something that until then had been suspended in previous cases such as that of Martín Vizcarra and that of Castillo himself when Zoraida Avalos he still headed the Public Ministry.
Sánchez’s position was that it was appropriate to take more serious action for the “serious accusations and sufficiency of evidence” against the president, since he is accused of being the leader of a criminal network.
In the coming days, Supreme Judge Juan Checkley must determine in this regard whether it is appropriate to maintain the investigation or annul it. For the time being, the president’s defense has indicated that “as long as our request is not resolved or there is no verdict, we must abide by the summonses and appearances of the Public ministry”.
YOU CAN SEE: Pedro Castillo asks Congress for dialogue on the most important demands
The president’s assistance to Congress is still being evaluated
The Control Commission in Congress the condition changed in the last week from witness to investigation of Pedro Castillo so that he can testify on Tuesday, June 21 at 9 am for the Sarratea case.
About, benji espinoza He indicated that they are still evaluating attending the session of this parliamentary group. “The Oversight Commission is wrong to say that they are investigating what the National Prosecutor’s Office is already investigating (….). The Constitution, in article 139, prohibits another authority from dealing with a pending case. Congress can’t stick its nose into an investigation that doesn’t belong to it. It cannot determine criminal responsibilities,” he stated.
